Disabled Persons (Independent Living)Bill [HL]

My Lords, I warmly welcome the opportunity that the Bill provides for a debate on disabled people and independent living. I pay tribute to my tenacious noble friend Lord Ashley in bringing the Bill before your Lordships today. His efforts over the years to further the interests of disabled people have, as many noble Lords have said, been absolutely tireless. He has been, and continues to be, a real catalyst for change. I also pay tribute tothe Disability Rights Commission, an excellent organisation, which I know has provided considerable support in the drafting of the Bill. I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Verma, on her excellent maiden speech and I am delighted that she chose to intervene in this debate. Her commitment to social justice is clear and we all look forward to her future contributions. I must also mention that my noble friend Lord Morris of Manchester, who has such a fine record on this issue, very much wanted to participate in the debate but he could not be in his place today. I am glad to be able to say that the Government are fully supportive of the principles underpinningthe Bill, which are entirely consistent with the Government’s position and what we wish to achieve in the future to improve the lives of disabled people. But it would be wrong to forget what has already been achieved. I believe that our performance in extending rights and opportunities for disabled people and ensuring that they are able to live more independent lives is unparalleled. The noble Baroness, Lady Masham, is absolutely right, of course, when she says that we are only part way along the journey. Huge changes still need to be made to transform the lives of disabled people and the demographic challenges mentioned by many noble Lords are enormous. The debate has highlighted many practical problems—for example, in relation to wheelchairs—issues which have to be addressed as a matter of urgency. I am glad to say that on 22 June the Prime Minister announced that the Department of Health will undertake a radical review of community equipment and wheelchair services, the transforming community equipment services project which will help to make independence a reality. The aim of the project will be to achieve a streamlined, more responsive and realistic assessment of individual needs across health and social care and explore how to harness the capabilities of both the third and private sectors across the end-to-end delivery of these services. The Government aim to have developed a new model for the provision of community equipment and wheelchair services across England which will be capable of being implemented by autumn 2007. Today’s debate is particularly timely as it coincides with the publication yesterday of the inaugural annual progress report to the Prime Minister from the Office for Disability Issues. As many of your Lordships have mentioned, in 2004 the Prime Minister asked his strategy unit to look at what more could be done to help bring about equality for disabled people. In January 2005 the unit published its report Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People. The report sets out a clear vision for Government that by 2005 disabled people should have the same opportunities and the same choices as everyone else. It contains 60 recommendations dealing with issues from the early years, the transition to adulthood, employment and, of course, independent living to help realise that vision. The overall strategy is being driven by the new Office for Disability Issues, or ODI, which was established in December 2005. We are now just over 18 months into a 20-year strategy which provides the kind of joined-up coherent approach that has been rightly demanded today. The progress report published yesterday by the ODI provides an honest assessment of the situation and enables everyone to judge whether we are achieving our aims. The report makes specific reference to transition, mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones. It refers to the responsibility of directors of adult social services for managing the transition process and ensuring that there is a clear line of accountability for improving outcomes and monitoring the quality of the transition. While the Government have overseen the largest extension of disability rights in history, they are rightly committed to delivering greater change to enable disabled people to make real choices. For example, the ODI is bringing the voices of disabled people into the heart of government. This very week, we announced that we would be establishing Equality 2025, the UK Advisory Network on Disability Equality. It will work with Ministers and departments to ensure that disabled people’s perspectives are built into policy-making from the start. The ODI is also successfully bringing departments together to improve services for disabled people. I understand the frustration rightly expressed about the lack of co-operation on the ground between local authorities, NHS bodies and key partners, but co-operation between departments is a step forward and it is already bearing fruit. We are starting to break down the Chinese walls referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Addington. Indeed, the report looks at that very issue. A further reason why the Bill is well timed is that I am able to announce today that we have set up a cross-government independent living review to drive forward this complex agenda. It will be led by Jenny Morris, an independent living expert, working with a team in the Office for Disability Issues, steered and shaped by an independent living expert panel, chaired by Dame Jane Campbell, whose record in this area is well known. I am enormously pleased that these two eminent experts have agreed to work closely with the Government on this project. We see the review as a strengthening of our commitment to disabled people—bringing into the heart of the ODI the views, thinking and experience of independent living experts, while building on the mechanisms that the office already has in place to carry forward the detailed work between and within government departments. This will, I hope, help to bridge the gap between rhetoric and reality mentioned by my noble friend Lady Wilkins. It will also enable people better to battle against bureaucracy. Many other initiatives introduced by the Government have had and will have a hugely positive effect on the ability of disabled people to live independent lives—for example, the Disability Discrimination Act 2005. The Government believe that a comprehensive framework of civil rights is a necessary foundation for achieving equality for disabled people. Following the Government’s action, the framework is finally in place. The Disability Discrimination Act 2005 followed the landmark extension of the DDA from 1 October the previous year. The changes we introduced from that date extended the employment provisions of the DDA to more than 1 million additional small businesses and a further 7 million jobs, and brought the final access duties into force. So now, at last, the DDA is driving the cultural change in society that we all want. Access ramps, communication aids and toilets for disabled people are at last becoming the norm, not the exception—well, I hope they are. We do not underestimate the scale of the challenge that remains in embedding these duties, particularly for small businesses which sometimes assume that improving access means a complete refit of their premises. As your Lordships will know, the new Act extended protection from last December to a further 250,000 people, by covering people with HIV, multiple sclerosis and cancer from the point of diagnosis. People with mental health conditions will find it easier to use the protection of the DDA. Disabled people will progressively have new rights when, for example, sitting exams, using transport services, renting property and joining or using private members’ clubs. The new Act also introduced a disability equality duty, which will come into force from this December. From that date, it will no longer be lawful for public bodies to design services or carry out functions without first considering how disabled people are affected. It is also appropriate to touch on our proposals for welfare reform. I am grateful for the support expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale. There has been much speculation and, at times, misinformation in the media about our intentions, but I hope we have been absolutely clear that, far from seeking to get tough with people on incapacity benefits, our starting point is that disabled people want to have the right to work, and would do so if the right opportunities and support were in place. Employment brings dignity and opportunity to end isolation, as well as wages. We estimate that around 90 per cent of the 2.7 million people claiming an incapacity benefit would meet the core definition of disability in the Disability Discrimination Act. These figures perhaps help to demonstrate why the employment rate of this group is less than 50 per cent at a time when we are seeing record numbers of people in work. I note the concerns expressed by the noble Baroness, Lady Darcy de Knayth, about earned income disregard for independent living. It is rathera detailed issue to consider in a short debate, so I undertake to write to the noble Baroness and I shall place a copy of the letter in the Library. On adult social care and the progress that we have made in developing the concept of individual budgets, the Government are currently undertaking a number of pilot projects on providing individual budgets for older and disabled people. I therefore welcome my noble friend’s focus on individual budgets as a key element in delivering improved choice and control for disabled people. However, it is important to remember that individual budgets are still being piloted at this stage. We have commissioned a comprehensive evaluation of the pilots. This will identify whether they can be delivered within our existing resources and whether they are delivering benefits to the people that use them. The evaluation will also look at whether there is a particular model or models of individual budgets that work best for people with different needs. We are not expecting to have final evidence from the pilots until spring 2008. We do not believe therefore that it would be sensible to introduce a statutory requirement for the introduction of the individual budgets approach until we have seen the results coming from the pilot projects, and have had time to consider all the evidence. I am told that I said earlier that the strategy unit’s report set out a clear vision for government to be achieved by 2005; clearly I meant 2025. Forgive me—I, too, want to push forward with the progress. The noble Baroness, Lady Darcy de Knayth, rightly emphasised the crucial role of carers, including very young carers, the pressures that they are under and society’s dependence on them. Over the past nine years we have consistently sought to improve carers’ lives and well-being, but I understand that the burdens are still enormous. We supported legislation giving carers the right to a holistic carer's assessment, including the carer’s wishes with regard to paid work, education and leisure activities. We introduced the carers grant to help councils support carers with respite breaks and other services—though possibly not enough. By 2008, we will have invested more than £1 billion in support for carers. But we want to do more, or course. In the White Paper, Our health, our care, our say, we proposed a new deal for carers to improve support for them through a range of measures, including the establishment of a helpline to offer advice; the provision of short-term, home-based respite support for carers in crisis or emergency situations; and the creation of an expert carers programme to provide training for the skills carers need to control their own health and the health of those in their care. Many noble Lords referred to the Bill’s proposals relating to housing and accommodation for disabled people. The Government fully recognise that it is extremely important that disabled people who have access needs are housed appropriately and that they have the right level of priority for housing. That is precisely why we have amended the legislation governing the way in which housing authorities allocate social housing. This now makes clear that in giving ““reasonable preference”” for an allocation to people who have medical and welfare grounds for moving house, authorities must include people who need to move on grounds relating to a disability. The changes we introduced in the Housing Act 2004 were intended to meet the sort of concerns the noble Lord’s Bill has identified. The term ““medical grounds”” was being interpreted too narrowly by some local authorities, and disabled people were being disadvantaged as a result. The Government also want to see social landlords make the best use of housing stock, including accommodation which is accessible or has been adapted for use by disabled people. We recognise that accessible housing registers can be useful and the current statutory guidance to local authorities on the allocation of accommodation encourages their use. However, we do not believe that forcing authorities to compile registers is the right way forward. We believe that it would be burdensome and could be counter-productive. Rather, we believe that it should be for local authorities to decide whether a register would meet their local needs and, if so, to set it up in a way which best suits those needs. The noble Baroness, Lady Greengross, referred to decisions by the courts that have limited the scope of the Human Rights Act over residential care. The Government are disappointed that the narrow interpretation taken by the Court of Appeal of the meaning of ““public authority”” is limiting the protection that we intended to put in place withthe Human Rights Act. Following the JCHR's recommendations in 2004, we have already taken effective measures to mitigate the problem by issuing guidance to local authorities on contracting for services and by setting up a system to identify a suitable case in which the Government can intervene to argue for a wider interpretation of public authority. Perhaps I may now move briefly to what the Government are doing to assist independent living for people with learning disabilities. In March 2001, the Government set out their plan for improving the lives of people with learning disabilities, their families and carers in the White Paper Valuing People: A New Strategy for Learning Disability for the 21st Century. This, the first White Paper on learning disability for 30 years, was based on the principles of rights, inclusion, choice and independence. It was written in consultation with people with learning disabilities, their families, carers, and the organisations who represent them. It set out a cross-government approach to addressing the lifelong needs of people with learning disabilities across health, housing, education, employment, social services, transport and leisure. To drive delivery of the White Paper, we created the role of national director of learning disabilities, and in May 2006 we took a step further and appointed a co-national director with a learning disability to work alongside the existing director. The appointment of a learning disabled person to this senior post will play a significant role in leading this cross-government agenda, and it demonstrates our commitment to inclusion, choice and control for people with learning disabilities. Our policy is to promote inclusion and participation in community life for people with learning disabilities. They should be able to participate in the activities other people take for granted such as getting a job, travelling, raising a family or going out with friends. The national director’s 2005 progress report, ““The Story So Far””, showed that change is happening—people arebeing listened to more and supported to live independently—but not enough. As I am sure noble Lords will agree, user-led organisations play a vital role in supporting disabled people. A strong support network is essential, and that is often best provided by bodies which are led by the very people they wish to support. As the noble Baroness, Lady Darcy de Knayth, remindedus, the Government have already accepted the recommendations, in ““Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People””, that by 2010 each local authority should have a user-led organisation modelled on existing centres for independent living. To this end we have established a project as part of the independent living review to identify what needs to be done to make a reality of the recommendation. We are of course aware of the difficulties with funding and local procurement processes and we must find a way through. This wide range of initiatives demonstrates the Government’s real commitment to improving the ability of disabled people to live as independently as possible. But have we done enough? No, of course not. Barriers and poverty of aspiration are a reality for far too many disabled people. There is still too much to do, but inevitably it will take time. This morning I was reminded that cultural change is a lengthy process when, with colleagues, I laid flowers at the memorial to Emmeline Pankhurst, who was born 148 years ago on 14 July. It is precisely because we want to ensure further progress for disabled people that we have set out a 20-year strategy. But I believe that the Government can be proud of what has been achieved to date. In many ways my noble friend’s Bill demonstrates just how far we have come in our thinking on making provision for disabled people and in changing the culture and attitudes of society. I am glad to say, as the noble Lord, Lord Addington, said, that this is no longer a party issue; there is cross-party agreement. I have to say that there are aspects of the Bill with which we might disagree, or which we believe are already achieved or can be achieved through existing provisions. In addition, there would, as my noble friend acknowledged, be cost implications in implementing all that is proposed, especially at the pace implied in the Bill. However, I recognise that some of those would be offset by cost savings. But debate on the detailed clauses of the Bill is for a later stage. At this point I am very happy to welcome the principles underpinning the Bill, and again to warmly congratulate my noble friend on bringing it forward and enabling us to debate this important issue. It has allowed us to identify and discuss some of the main challenges that we must meet in the coming years if disabled people are to become equal partners in our society, as they must, with the same opportunities and choices as everyone else, participating as equals in every aspect of family and community life. This issue is close to the Government’s heart, and we have made real achievements. However, we are only part way through the journey and today’s debate provides us with a further impetus for progress so that all members of our society are, to quote R H Tawney, enabled to make the most of such powers as they possess.